1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a polarization observation device that performs polarization observation using a polarization plate.
2. Description of the Related Art
Light incident inside a living tissue is scattered by cell nuclei, subcellular organelle, and collagen. In a case where the incident light is polarized, the polarization degree is lost by scattering, and the light eventually becomes randomly-polarized light. Scattering depends on a histological structure such as cell nuclei, subcellular organelle, and collagen. Accordingly, also a degree of depolarization due to scattering depends on the histological structure. Therefore, there is a possibility that information on the histological structure (for example, atypism or growth of tissue) can be obtained as an image by performing polarization imaging on a living tissue.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-47588, when a beam splitter is used for obtaining a plurality of polarization images in which polarization directions are different from one another, a plurality of image pickup devices are required.
In addition, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2010-125284, a configuration in which a polarization element array is superimposed on an image pickup device is disclosed.